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Family fighting to raise £130,000 to save boy with rare brain cancer
Anna Davis, Health Reporter05.10.09
The parents of a three-year-old boy with a rare form of brain cancer are battling to raise money for life-saving treatment in America.
Fletcher Falvey from Bexley was diagnosed with cancer in August but doctors could not remove all of the tumour. Now his parents have taken him to US doctors who will use a new form of laser treatment on it.
But the family needs to raise £130,000 to pay for the treatment, which is unavailable in the UK. Fletcher's father Noel, 41, is pinning his hopes on proton beam radiation therapy to save his son's life.
Fletcher has an aggressive form of cancer called anaplastic ependymoma. Conventional radiation treatment has been ruled out because it could damage such a young brain and lead to lifelong problems.
Mr Falvey said: "Fletch has a 60 per cent chance of getting the tumour managed by the proton therapy. A stronger child, however, can be given a stronger dose, so we are leaving him to recover from his surgery as much as we can before the therapy starts."
Describing the moment he was told his son had cancer, he said: "What is the worst thing you could ever hear? I think the day the doctor broke the news to us would rank pretty high on anyone's list. The day he went into surgery was the worst day of our lives - the dread, the waiting. Fletch left for the operating room sobbing and terrified, but there was nothing we could do to comfort him."
Mr Falvey and his wife Andrea, 30, moved to Spain four months ago with Fletcher and their eight-year-old daughter Shannon. Fletcher was diagnosed and had his first operation in Spain but they have now relocated to Bloomington, Indiana, to begin the proton radiotherapy.
Friends and family in Bexley and Dagenham are fundraising for the treatment. John Deacon, Fletcher's uncle, is co-ordinating the campaign.
The 33-year-old said: "We have already raised £20,000 just from donations, and we haven't held any of the events yet. We thought it would just be family getting involved, but we have had people getting in touch with us from all over the place."
Mrs Falvey added: "Every day I am so proud and amazed by Fletcher, even when things upset him he bounces back. He's still laughing and happy and wanting to play endlessly."
